- Sunday, April 28, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
After failing to find any answer against India spinners in the first Test in Nagpur, Australia are desperate to make a comeback into the four-match Test series but it seems none of their ploys is working out.
The visitors, who were hammered under three days in the first Test and lost the game by an innings and 132 runs, wanted to train on the used pitch for the upcoming matches. But their hopes of getting more practice on an worn surface were dashed as the ground staff at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium had already watered the pitch.
According to a Fox Cricket report, Australia had requested the pitch to be kept as it is so that their players could get some practice ahead of the second match starting in Delhi on Friday (17).
But while Pat Cummins’s men had plans to practise on Sunday (12) afternoon, they were informed that all the pitches on the ground had already been treated with water on Saturday (11), the day the match concluded.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald told SEN that the plan for the extra session was an attempt for his players to understand the wicket more, according to Fox Cricket.
“It’s pretty clear isn’t it, their intent with the surfaces they want to play on. We were expecting that coming in so as I said before, we’ve been really clear on what we expected,” he said.
“When we got here we got exactly that. They’re not naughty boy nets today (the planned session). We’ve got a big squad of 17 players so there are different people on different training programs.
“There’ll be a couple of players from the game that will come down, so they’ll be seen at training. But it’s certainly not naughty boy nets, it’s just preparing for the next game,” he said.
Australia were bowled out for 177 and 91 in the two innings of the match while India batted once for 400. Indian spinners took 16 wickets in the game while Todd Murphy, Australia’s debutant spinner, claimed seven Indian wickets.
Australia are reportedly set to make one or two changes in their playing XI in the next game. It seems opener David Warner will be replaced by a third spinner in the form of Matt Kuhnemann.
